Team USA Scholarship driver Askew stars in only his fourth car racing weekend

“We made a statement,” said Team USA Scholarship driver Oliver Askew after the final. He certainly had.

He was third in qualifying for his heat, finished third and took an excellent second in his semi. But then came his best performance of them all as he was running as high as third in the final when disaster struck and he picked up a puncture after running over the Druids kerb while part of the tight battle for second position.

It was a bitterly disappointing end to an excellent Festival debut – especially when you consider it was only his fourth ever car racing weekend.

“We had the car to win – the guys provided me with a great car,” he said. “But sometimes these things happen.”

Askew estimated he has completed around 500 laps in the Cliff Dempsey Racing Ray GR15 in preparation for the event at various venues in the UK.

However, not all of these were entirely incident-free as he did collide with fellow Team USA driver Kyle Kirkwood at Brands last Wednesday. A car exited the pits onto the racing line and Askew just misjudged his braking and collected his team-mate.

He has certainly improved a lot since then and will be one to watch at the Walter Hayes.